Top 25 Tech Tools for Teachers for 2015 | edutechchick. Technology Evolves Quickly! When I started teaching in 2004, I used any/all available technology. I had an overhead projector and a CD player. Then I scored an InFocus machine and a laptop because no one else in the social studies department had use for it. Afterwards, I graduated to a SmartBoard and “hoarder of laptop carts.” Even when I was a “floater,” without my own classroom for several years, I would wheel my own teaching cart and two laptop carts to all of my classes- without missing a beat.
The only real issue with the method was how loud I was coming down the hallway. The laptop carts squeaked and the wheels always sounded like shopping carts that needed repair. Teachers have wonderful tech tools to choose from these days. All of the tech tools featured in this post are free, user friendly, and (likely) will be available on your school’s network. So, here are my top 25 picks for digital tools for 2015! Want an updated list for 2016? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12, 13. 14. Top 25 Tech Tools for Teachers for 2015 | edutechchick. Three Useful Growth Mindset Resources. As I’ve written on many occasions in this blog (The Best Resources On Helping Our Students Develop A “Growth Mindset”) and in my books, I think the concept of a “growth mindset” can be very helpful in the classroom. Here are three important new resources related to a growth mindset that I think teachers will find useful: First, you might remember my post from a few days ago, New Study Shows That Teaching About “Growth Mindset” Works At Large Scale – Or Does It?
In that post, I shared a new paper that had just come suggesting that teaching a 45 minute lesson on the growth mindset can have have a positive impact on students and, for the first time, showed that it could work on a large scale. In that same post, I shared a detailed critique of that study that came out almost simultaneously. One helpful reader did leave a detailed comment, which I’d encourage you to read. This greater impact on students facing more challenges has been borne out by my experience in the classroom, as well. Pedagogy Before Technology? Has there ever been a more exciting time to be a teacher? There is certainly more choice and opportunity, with access to tools that were merely an idea a decade ago. Global interconnectivity through technology has transformed the world of work. Offices are paperless; conferences are virtual and information is shared instantly.
This is the real world; the future for our students. So how do we make the link? How do we ensure the learning is relevant? How does the pedagogy need to adapt to seize the moment and equip our students for success in this world? However, we seem to be embroiled in a period of political meddling, which irrespective of motive, is a distraction and is causing disruption for teachers and students. ‘Pedagogy first’ is of course a truism that you would struggle to find a teacher disagreeing with. Consider terms like ‘flipped learning‘, ‘transformational feedback’ and ‘MOOCs‘. Let’s take ‘flipped learning’ as an example. We are all learners. Image credit. Character Education: Developing Effective Programs. Recently, "What Matters Most: A Newsweek Poll" (Newsweek, 1997) polled 506 parents of children ages 0-3 years and asked them about their most important goal as a parent.
The most common response, given by 48% of the parents, was making sure their child grows up to be a moral person. Unfortunately, this goal is becoming harder for parents to achieve. Traditionally, parents and their children were embedded in a network of family and community that contributed to the moral upbringing of children. Families, however, are becoming more and more isolated. The difficult task of raising moral children is compounded by other forces in the lives of children and parents (e.g. culture, media, peers, etc.) that promote unethical, immoral, and self-focused behavior. In fact, the conduct of United States youth during the last 20-30 years has been marked by two trends: (a) a rise in destructive behavior, and (b) a rise in self-destructive behavior (Wynne & Hess, 1987). Development Theories Kohlberg Rest. Moral and Character Development.
Citation: Huitt, W. (2004). Moral and character development. Educational Psychology Interactive. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University. Retrieved [date], from A. Introduction As previously stated in the section related to desired student outcomes (Huitt, 1997a), in my opinion there are three major issues in the education of young people today. The following two definitions provide examples of a normative view of character: "engaging in morally relevant conduct or words, or refraining from certain conduct or words" (Wynne & Walberg, 1984); "a complex set of relatively persistent qualities of the individual person, and generally has a positive connotation when used in discussions of moral education" (Pritchard, 1988).
In general, character, good or bad, is considered to be observable in one's conduct (Walberg & Wynne, 1989). Character Education in the United States Impacting Moral and Character Development Three Exemplary Programs. 4 Keys to Designing the Classroom of the Future -- THE Journal. Classroom Design | Feature Page 3 of 3 4 Keys to Designing the Classroom of the Future When it comes to PD, LaMaster cautioned administrators against the assumption that younger teachers will pick up all the tech tools they need on their own.
"Some people think that anyone under the age of 26 magically knows how to use all this stuff, and use it in an interesting manner, but that has not been my experience," she said. "Give teachers a place to try new things out and ask questions, because these are all new environments…. You can buy all the futuristic equipment you want, but you must provide that help. " Curriculum Comes First For Klein, the classroom of the future is only worth creating if it supports the fundamental mission of teaching students. But the story has a happy ending. About the Author Greg Thompson is a freelance writer based in Fort Collins, CO. List of 40 FREE Educational Websites. According to webometrics, there are more than 17 000 universities, but getting a degree in many of them is quite costly.
Many students around the world(and their families) get into big debt or have to work over sixty hours a week in order to afford an education. Two thirds of the US college seniors who graduated in 2011 had student loan debt, with an average of over 27 000 USD per person. Reading those statistics I can't stop thinking about those words from over 30 years ago: "With mass education, it turned out that most people could be taught to read and write. Isaac Asimov died in 1992, but if he could see the opportunities that the Internet is giving us in XXI century he would probably grin from ear to ear. Enough with the words, here is a BADASS list of over 40 educational websites: ALISON - over 60 million lessons and records 1.2 million unique visitors per monthCOURSERA - Educational website that works with universities to get their courses on the Internet, free for you to use. Tree_Cycle_.pdf.
4 Principles Of Student-Centered Learning. 4 Principles Of Student-Centered Learning by TeachThought Staff A Definition of Student-Centered Learning In our view, student-centered learning is a process of learning that puts the needs of the students over the conveniences of planning, policy, and procedure. Like any phrase, “student-centered learning” is subjective and flexible–and only useful insofar as it ultimately supports the design of learning experiences for students.
With that in mind, here are 4 principles of student-centered learning to consider as you design curriculum and instruction. Space CreativeDynamicMobileEmotionally safeCognitively agitating Place That honors their historyThat stirs their enthusiasm & curiosityThat they connect with in fundamentally “non-academic” waysThat reflects their needsThat they believe they can impact Voice In assessment & curriculum forms (e.g., PBL)That grows as their understanding doesThat reflects who they really areIn classroom conversationsIn local community & around national& global events.
Happy Teaching, Happy Learning: 13 Secrets to Finland's Success - Education Week Teacher. Published Online: June 24, 2014 By Sophia Faridi Most educators have probably found themselves wishing for a simpler solution to the hardships and inequities of the U.S. education system. I recently got the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to attend the Oppi Festival in Helsinki, Finland, with a group of seven U.S. educators to learn more about the Finnish school system and the lessons it might offer.
During the trip, our group had the chance to visit several innovative schools. While I can’t say that I uncovered some mysterious holy grail of education, I did discover something that I had never considered before: the importance of happy teaching and happy learning. The teachers and students that I observed were happy. It made me wonder: “What makes school in Finland such an enjoyable experience for students and teachers?”
Students in Finland work together frequently, and the material they study is important to them. —Sophia Faridi 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. Web Only Back to Top. Building_the_curriculum_3_jms3_tcm4-489454. VAK Learning and Communication Style Eye Movement Chart. Neurologists tell us that the eyes are the externalization of the brain. That is, the way one moves their eyes when accessing information can tell us a great deal about their learning and communication styles. These neurological patterns are set by the age of eight and reflect the internal sensory processing preferences (learning strategies), of the individual. These eye movements cross barriers of culture, gender, and language and are highly observable.
Accordingly, you can learn to watch someone’s eye movements to reliably ensure that you are effectively communicating with and persuading them. You might use this to: • Detect a Judge’s VAK learning style and persuade them more effectively than your opponent; • Get a read on how a jury is receiving your message; • Improve communications with a colleague or spouse; Learning How to Observe Eye Movements by Quizzing Someone Else or Having Someone Quiz You - Questions That Produce Mental Searching 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Top 5 presentation tools for teachers and learners. #mytop5 Published on May 11th, 2014 | by Mark Anderson PowerPoint. It is much maligned and certainly has its place in the education world. Even advances with Apple’s Keynote with Keynote in the cloud are a step forward, however, I would argue that we as educators should seek to set a higher bar on the way we present materials. Subjects and even schools can be branded to create a unified and streamlined sense of belonging for the learners, however this can take time and cost a lot of money. In the short term, there is a lot you can do as a classroom teacher to make presentations more engaging, and here are 5 tools to allow you to make inspiring materials.
Remember, where you lead, students will follow, so this might be the start of getting a higher standard for presentations in your class. 1 – Haiku Deck – This is available as an app and now as a web tool. Created with Haiku Deck, the free presentation app 4 – Presentation in G drive. Photo Credit: mattcornock via Compfight cc. 4 Great Rubrics to Develop Students Presentations and Speaking Skills. February 20, 2014 Looking for some rubrics to hone in your students presentation skills ? The rubrics below will definitely be of great help. I came across these materials on Discovery Assessment in an article written by Dona Criswell and I really liked them specially that they cover different grades. However, it should be noted that these rubrics are the property of Bucket Institute of Education, a leading source on project based learning materials and for some reasons the download link Donna provided is not working so I am hoping you will be able to have rough idea of how to create your own rubric based on these samples here. 1- Presentation rubric for grades k-2 click here to see a larger version. 2- Presentation rubric for grades 3-5, click here to see a larger version. 3- Presentation rubric for grades 6-8, click here to see a larger version. 4- Presentation rubric for grades 9-12.
REACT-2003-1-53.pdf. 10 Websites to Find Special Needs Apps for the iPad & iPhone. This post is part Five of the Special Needs iPad & App Series. In only one year the Apple iPad has revolutionized the tech industry. 15 Million iPads have been sold and estimates are that within the next 3 years over 115 million tablets will be shipped. Dozens if not hundreds of applications have been created that enhance the quality of life for individuals with all types of disabilities. This has lead Apple to create a special education section in the App Store. To try and make sense of all of this we have put together a nine part series on the iPad and useful applications. In part four we discussed 11 Social Skills & Life Skills Apps in iPad App Store This week we bring you: 10 Websites to Find Special Needs Apps for the iPad & iPhone About.Com – Apps for Children With Special Needs About.com highlights new apps that are designed specifically to make life easier for people with special needs, by making communication or behavior management or health management easier.
Did we miss any? Carly's Voice | Changing the World of Autism. Join our SN Community. Kathy Greenberg - Learning How To Learn. Learning, which begins before birth, becomes ever more important as the pace of change accelerates around us. Whether it involves learning how to better influence the future, or developing the needed skills for earning a livelihood, learning can be empowering, fun, and energizing – or it can be frustrating and discouraging – depending on your skills in learning. But how can we learn how to learn? Kathy Greenberg, Associate Professor of Special Education at the University of Tennesee, Knoxville, works to help teachers mediate their students’ learning experiences so that students gain practical skills in problem-solving.
Her COGNET program, based on Reuven Feuerstein’s Mediated Learning Experience (MLE), makes the power of effective mediation widely accessible. Developed by Feuerstein over 30 years ago, the theory of MLE complements the earlier work by the Russian researcher Lev Vygotsky, who developed mediation as a way to assist learners in developing cognitive processes.
Robert J. Sternberg, Elena Grigorenko, and Donald A. Bundy - The Predictive Value of IQ - Merrill-Palmer Quarterly 47:1. Find using OpenURL The Predictive Value of IQ Abstract This article reviews findings on the predictive validity of psychometric tests of intelligence. The article is divided into five major parts. In the first part, the issues with which the article deals are introduced. Incorrect username or password. Please select your institution to authenticate with Shibboleth. Special Education Math Teaching Strategies. Life Skills Curriculums - Basic Math: Addition Skills. Special education needs / Fact sheets / Key information / National Standards / The New Zealand Curriculum Online - NZ Curriculum Online. Allspeced. 22 Simple Ideas for Harnessing Creativity in the Elementary Classroom.
Briefs | autismpdc.fpg.unc.edu. Autism Internet Modules (AIM) | autismpdc.fpg.unc.edu. Learning Port - List of Featured Resources.